How to report

WHAT CAN YOU MAP

Any experience, report or cases of violence against women which happened online or through the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs), like mobile phones and the internet.You can either document your own experience, or ask someone you know to share hers. You can also map a case published in local or national papers, or in internet sites or blogs from your country, adding links to the website where it has been published It is important to document every story to build evidence about online VAW.

If you would like to report someone else's story, as far as possible, please make sure you have their express permission and consent.

You can also anonymise the story to protect your identity or the identity of the person affected by changing important details such as your/her real name, age, type of employment and location (choose a broad area). This allows the story to be heard, without putting the story-teller's sense of privacy and safety further at risk. Unless the perpetrator has been found guilty of the crime by a court of law, the full name shouldn't be used, even if it appears in the news.

HOW TO ADD YOUR STORY TO THE MAP

1) Send us an email: map AT takebackthetech.net

If you prefer not to use the online form, you can send us an email directly to the address above and share with us your experience. Let us know what happened, where it took place - whether online or offline, what technology platform was used, and who the abuser was – whether it is someone you know, a stranger, a group of people, a government institution, or a private company like Yahoo! or Facebook.

We will then post it on the map with the details that you provide us. If you wish to keep any part of the story private and not part of the map, please let us know, and we won’t include that in our mapping. We won’t include your name or email address when we post, and will only map the generic location (i.e. city or country).

2) Submit a report

You can post your experience directly by using the "Submit a report" form.a) Title of reportGive your story a title and write it here. This can be a sentence that briefly captures the experience, or if you are reporting from something in the media, the title of the news article.

b) DescriptionThis is where you share your story. Describe what happened in as many or as few details as you like. If you are mapping a newspaper report, you can just cut and paste the article here. Please respect the privacy of all persons involved: do not use actual names of the person who experienced the violence or the abuser in your report.

c) Date & TimeWhere relevant, you can click on “modify date” and select the date that the violence took place, or when the newspaper report that you’re citing was published. If it happened over several months, you can just select the month and year that it began. If you are reporting at the time when it is happening, you can leave the date & time as is.

d) Your name & emailIf you feel comfortable, you can include your name (a pseudonym will do) and email address here. We take privacy very seriously, and your email address will only be used to contact you if we need any clarification or verification. It will not be shared with anyone, and we will not send you any other types of emails. You can also choose to leave this option blank.

e) The mapThis is where you can mark the location of where the violence took place. For your own privacy, do not select your actual home address or street address. A rough idea of the location is enough for the purposes of this map, for example, your town/city/region.

Use your mouse to find the location in the map directly. First zoom out and find your country, then click and zoom in to find your region and town/city.

There are 4 icons below the map. You can either use the first icon that is shaped like a rectangle to select a broad area, or the icon that looks like a pencil to drop a marker in a specific place. If it happened in several places, you can put in several markers or use the rectangle to indicate a broad area. As a reminder, please do NOT drop a marker on your home address or street address. If you made a mistake, you can delete the marker by selecting either “delete last” (for the last entry you made), delete selected (a selection of markers) or “clear map” (to delete everything)

Write your town/city, country under "refine location"

f) News source linkIf you are mapping news reports, then add the URL or web address of the news article here.

g) External video linkIf your mapping initiative is part of a creative campaign that uses video, you can add the URL or web address of where the video is located here.

i) SubmitOnce you have filled in this form, click “Submit” and your story is part of this global initiative to map technology-related violence against women!

CATEGORIES & DESCRIPTION

These are the categories that we want to map, to better understand the different forms of technology-related violence against women and what is involved. This helps us look at the stories as a whole, and identify key issues that need to be addressed in our advocacy work.

1) Violation

What is the act of violence? What did the abuser, perpetrator or violator do?a) Accessing private dataAccessing your private information without consent, by hacking into your account, stealing your password, using your computer to access your accounts while it is logged in etc.b) Taking photo/video without consentTaking photographs or recording videos of you without your knowledge or consent.c) Monitoring & trackingMonitoring & tracking your online or offline activities and movement.d) Deleting, changing or faking personal data, photos/videosDeleting your emails, creating false personal data like online accounts or advertisement postings, manipulating or creating fake photos and videos of you.e) Repeated harassmentRepeated and unwanted harassment through messages, contact, publishing info about you online etc.f) Threats of violence/blackmailSending threatening messages or blackmailing you with threats of publishing personal photographs online etc.g) Stealing identity, money or propertyStealing your identity by creating a fake account under your name, using your passwords to withdraw money from your bank account, etc.h) Sharing and/or disseminating private informationSharing and/or disseminating private information & communication like videos, photos and emails, without your knowledge or consent.i)Abusive commentsOffensive or denigrating online comments meant to hurt a person's reputation or diminish her/his work, content production, etcj) OtherActs of violence that are not covered in these categories. If you select this, please do remember to include information in the report about what happened

2) Harm faced

What harm did you face as a result of the violation or act of violence?a) Physical harmAssaulted, beaten, suffered physical injury etc.

b) Emotional or psychological harmDepression, anxiety, living in a state of fear etc.c) Sexual harmSexually harassed, assaulted, raped etc.d) Harm to reputationDamaged your reputation, standing or credibility at work, in your community or beyond.e) Loss of identityLost your online accounts, or ability to assert your identity online because someone created an account in your name etc.f) Loss of property, economic costs Lost money, content, assets etc.g) Mobility limitedLost ability to move around freely and participate in online and offline spaces.h) CensorshipLost ability to freely express yourself and engage in online spaces.i) Invasion of privacyIntrusion into the personal life of another, or in one's private affairs

3) Technology platform

What type of ICT (information and communication technologies) was used, or where did the violence happen? Below is a list of potential platforms that we have identified.

a) Mobile phone

b) Radio

c) Television

d) Newspaper

e) Forum, mailing lists or ads

f) Facebook

g) Twitter

h) Orkut

i) Youtube

j) Other social networks

k) Online chats (e.g. Skype, IM)

l) Geolocation (e.g. maps, GPS, 4square)

m) Email

n) Webcam

o) Video

p) Audio/mp3

q) Other

4) Abuser/Violator

Who was the abuser/violator?

a) Someone knownA friend, husband, ex-partner, colleague etc.

b) Someone unknownStranger or not sure who the abuser/violator is because his/her identity is hidden

c) A group of peopleMany different people coming together or acting separately to engage in the act of violence or violation

d) Internet platform provider (e.g. Facebook)Violence was experienced because of a decision, action or role played by a private company that provided a service online.

e) StateViolence was caused by someone in a state or public institution such as the police, military, hospital , social services, state enforcement authority , etc.

f) OtherAbuser/violator is not covered by the categories above.

5) Action by victim

Type of public action that victim takes to stop tech-related VAW

a) Reported to police/state enforcement authority

b) Reported to State office specialised in VAW to get help/counselling